Career
Wolf worked as an advertising copywriter at Benton & Bowles creating commercials for Crest toothpaste, all the while writing screenplays in the hopes of a film career. It was at this time that he briefly collaborated on a screenplay with Oliver Stone, who was also a struggling screenwriter at the time. He moved to Los Angeles after a few years and had three screenplays produced; one of these films, Masquerade starring Rob Lowe and Meg Tilly, was well received. He started his television career as a staff writer on Hill Street Blues and was nominated for his first Emmy for an episode (entitled "What Are Friends For?") on which he was the only writer. He moved from there to Miami Vice, where he was a supervising producer.
Wolf's Law & Order, which ran from 1990 to 2010, tied Gunsmoke for the longest-running dramatic show in television history, making it one of television's most successful franchises. It has been nominated for the most consecutive Emmy Awards of any primetime drama series. Wolf serves as creator and executive producer of the two current Law & Order drama series from Wolf Films and NBC Universal Television – Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Law & Order: UK – and did so for the three that have been cancelled – Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order: Trial by Jury and Law & Order: Los Angeles. In addition, he was the creator and executive producer of NBC's courtroom reality series Crime & Punishment, which chronicled real-life cases prosecuted by the San Diego District Attorney’s office.
Wolf's company also produced Twin Towers, the 2003 Academy Award-winning Short Documentary about two brothers, one a policeman and the other a fireman, who lost their lives in the line of duty on September 11, 2001. Wolf was also involved with the production of a theatrical documentary about the popular rock group The Doors, titled When You're Strange.
Wolf's personal honors include the Award of Excellence from the Banff Television Festival, the 2002 Creative Achievement Award from NATPE; the Anti-Defamation League’s Distinguished Entertainment Industry Award, the Leadership and Inspiration Award from the Entertainment Industries Council, the Governor’s Award by the New York Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the 1997 achievement award from the Caucus for Producers, Writers, and Directors, the 1998 Television Showman of the Year Award from the Publicists Guild of America, the 2002 Tribute from the Museum of Television and Radio, and a 2003 Special Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America.
Wolf is also an Honorary Consul general of Monaco and is actively involved in the principality’s prestigious annual Television Festival, and is its primary liaison with the entertainment community.
On March 29, 2007, Wolf received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7040 Hollywood Boulevard.
In addition to having been a classmate of former US President George W. Bush, Wolf was an employer of Fred Thompson, who sought the Republican nomination for President in 2008 with help of the national attention he gained playing the district attorney on Law & Order. Wolf supported Thompson in his bid, as he did Bush, as it has been reported that he contributed money to Thompson even before he officially announced he was running.
Wolf was credited with "Special Thanks" for the episode "Basic Lupine Urology" from "Season 3" of NBC's "Community", an homage to the style of his Law and Order series.
Wolf developed Chicago Fire, an drama about a group of men and women working at the Chicago Fire Department. The series was picked up by NBC in May 2012, and premiered on October 10, 2012, with meek numbers in the ratings and minimal reviews. Wolf's future projects are an American adaption of the United Kingdom psychological legal drama series Injustice (Wolf's version airing on NBC, pending it being picked up to series), as well as a drama series revolving around a satanic cult, tenatively titled The Church, for NBC as well. Wolf is writing the project with Howard Franklin. Wolf also has an untitled pilot about a insurance investigator on USA Network, and an unscripted pilot titled Cold Justice, a documentary drama, for TNT.
With Wolf pursuing other projects as well, he and current Law & Order: Special Victims Unit show runner/executive producer Warren Leight discuss the future of the Law & Order franchise and revitalizing it; Leight commenting "(Dick Wolf and I) sometimes talk in general terms of where (the franchise) could go. I'm curious to see if there's another iteration somewhere down the line," he says. "We try hard to maintain a certain level of quality which I think is why the shows sustained in reruns so well. And I'd like to believe there's room for another generation in some way." On October 27, 2012, it was announced that another Law & Order spinoff was being put into development for 2013-14, making it Wolf's sixth L&O series.
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